Banking, Commercial Loan Documentation and Real Estate

We represent banks, trade vendors and other lenders in the documentation of credit transactions across a wide array of industries, secured by various forms of collateral.

We work with clients to prepare credit documents that fully protect the lender’s interests in the loan transaction. Our clients often call on us to provide a “due diligence” review of their proposed transactions and loan documents in advance of any enforcement. We also regularly assist clients in the negotiation, structure and documentation of amendments, renewals, restructuring and extension of existing loan facilities, including ways to safeguard and strengthen collateral positions.

Because of our deep expertise in bankruptcy and insolvency, many clients seek our counsel for strategy when their existing loans show the first signs of default. We provide strategic counsel for obtaining new collateral and guaranties, avoiding preferential transfers, and negotiating forbearance agreements.

Additionally, we provide general counsel to a wide range of real estate clients, including investors, developers, tenants, real estate brokers and property managers, throughout the real estate transaction process. Owners and real estate management companies routinely seek our assistance in property management and commercial leasing transactions, including lease preparation, review, and negotiation on behalf of both landlords and tenants.

Bankruptcy and Receivership Proceedings

While our firm does not represent debtors in bankruptcy, our broad bankruptcy expertise means our lawyers have the unique knowledge to represent nearly any other party dealing with issues related to insolvency or the bankruptcy process. Our firm generally represents the interests of secured or unsecured creditors in bankruptcy proceedings, but we are frequently called upon to serve in a broader capacity. 

We have been hired to serve as litigation counsel for bankruptcy trustees, lead or local counsel for unsecured creditors’ committees, and have represented parties in the purchase of assets out of bankruptcy estates. Lenders, trade suppliers and other creditors have engaged us to defend them in bankruptcy adversary proceedings filed by debtors and bankruptcy trustees. We also routinely represent and protect the interests of other interested stakeholders in the bankruptcy process, such as guarantors, spouses, members of corporate boards of directors, investors and co-debtors.

Outside of Bankruptcy Court, we have served as state court-appointed receivers to assist in the management and wind-down of Tennessee businesses, most often by the Chancery Courts in Tennessee. We have also frequently been engaged  by state court receivers to serve special counsel to handle legal issues in the receivership, as well as to prosecute claims and enforce rights of the receivership.

Creditors’ Rights and Judgment Enforcement

This is what our firm is best known for. A judgment isn’t worth the paper it’s written on if a judgment creditor can’t collect from the debtor. We not only litigate to enforce credit agreements, but our firm is also experienced in the most effective methods to collect on judgments. We routinely appear in collection and creditors rights litigation in state and federal courts to enforce loans and unpaid credit transactions.

Once a judgment is obtained, our lawyers work to collect the judgment debt by investigation and seizure of available assets, including through execution, levies, lien enforcement, foreclosure sales, sheriff’s sales, and post-judgment asset discovery. We counsel judgment creditors on all facets of this process, from pre-litigation asset investigation and planning to post-judgment discovery. We also routinely serve as post-judgment co-counsel to other law firms.

Our collection efforts do not end if the judgment debtor files bankruptcy: Our lawyers represent a wide variety of creditors under all chapters of the Bankruptcy Code. We have represented secured creditors, critical vendors, unsecured creditors and have acted as counsel for bankruptcy trustees and unsecured creditors’ committees. Additionally, we routinely litigate issues related to reorganization, confirmation of bankruptcy plans, stay relief and objections to dischargeability of debts.

Commercial and Real Property Litigation

We handle a variety of litigation related to financial, commercial and real property transactions in all of the federal and state courts in Tennessee. The litigation that we routinely handle includes:

• Secured and unsecured creditors’ rights litigation to enforce loan documents
• Enforcement and defense of mechanics’ and materialmens’ lien claims
• Lien disputes and quiet title litigation
• Lawsuits for specific performance of real estate sale agreements
• Actions to defend and enforce contracts agreements, including non-compete and non-solicitation agreements
• Commercial eviction actions
• Lawsuits and counterclaims brought against financial institutions and servicers

While litigation is often unpredictable in both outcome and expense, we pride ourselves on our ability to provide a decisive plan of action at the beginning of a matter, a reasonable expectation of the budget, and, in most cases, a reliable analysis of the likelihood of success in the matter, drawn from decades of experience in similar matters.

Special Master and Expert Witness Services

We have been engaged by courts, court administrators, and third parties as special masters in civil litigation matters, including serving as a liquidator in a dissolution of a business under Tennessee state law, assisting a Tennessee Chancery Court in computing and making distributions of large scale settlement proceeds, and serving as a Rule 53  Special Master to assist the Davidson County Chancery Court in overseeing a variety of discovery and other pretrial procedural issues arising in complex litigation. 

Additionally, we have been engaged by private litigants, as well as the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility, to provide expert witness services and testimony in cases involving creditors’ rights, foreclosure, and related issues arising under Tennessee law.

Mediation

We bring decades of experience negotiating complex legal disputes to your mediation table. Whether it’s a business dispute or civil disagreement, we are committed to facilitating constructive dialog, and providing a confidential and structured environment for parties to collaboratively and efficiently resolve their conflicts.